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The state beyond regressing and straying is a gate of Dharma illumination; for it is replete with the Dharma of past buddhas. 不退轉地是法明門、具足往昔佛法故. In order to understand this gate statement, we need to understand the path of the bodhisattva as it was described in the earlier teachings. In general, there are said to be several stages for the bodhisattva to pass through on the way to becoming a buddha: 1) arousing bodhicitta, the aspiration to practice and experience awakening. 2) practicing wholeheartedly, sometimes the six paramitas, sometimes gaining an understanding of suchness or emptiness, but in any event, actively engaging with the dharma. 3) non-regression, which means that you’re really close to buddhahood, and there’s no going back. 4) you live your final lifetime in samsara before becoming a buddha. The third stage here is what the gate statement is calling "the state beyond regressing and straying," in Sanskrit, avaivartika. In the early texts, these folks are described as exemplary monks, with cognitive powers equal to arhats. They practice deep states of meditation, have perfect wisdom and teach the precepts to others. Their sitting practice is the samadhi that doesn’t grasp anything at all, so they don’t get stuck anywhere/ At Gate 106 we considered receiving a prediction of Buddhahood. If you do good things and practice sincerely, and attain something called the samadhi of heroic progression, you will receive a prediction or an assurance from the Buddha that you will also become a Buddha. These predictions are directly associated with non-regression: you progress in your practice and reach this point, and a buddha will tell you that you will also become a buddha. Those four stages in the path of the bodhisattva mentioned earlier are sometimes expanded into 10 bhumis or stages of attainment, and each one lays the groundwork for the next one. With each one you gain greater power and wisdom. The 8th is called “immovable” because that’s where realization is irreversable. You won’t regress, even after rebirth. There’s no chance you’re going to get wobbly on the path or start backsliding in some way, like having doubts, getting lazy, or trying to get something out of it for yourself. You’re not trying to reach nirvana purely for your own sake. At that point all the klesas or mental afflictions are exhausted, so you’re no longer stuck in samsara and you’re completely absorbed in the dharma. You practice all the paramitas and make various vows for the benefit of others, and those vows themselves bring about additional virtues. Even though you’re working for all beings, you deeply understand no-self and you don’t make mistakes about the nature of the five skandhas. Now, what does that mean? Well, you’re going along practicing the paramitas, mainly generosity because it’s the basis for all the others, and on up through wisdom, but that by itself isn’t enough to get you to non-regression. That only happens when you arouse great compassion for all beings. However, then something interesting happens. Because of wisdom, you know that all dharmas are empty and there really are no beings, and no one to be saved, and at that moment, your compassion starts to weaken. There aren’t any beings toward whom you can feel compassionate. Yet in the same moment, you’re aware of the suffering and misery of deluded individuals in the world that need your help, and your wise vision of emptiness in turn begins to weaken because compassion is rising up again. You’re at the stage of non-regresson because these two things are in balance. Your compassion doesn’t hinder you from deeply seeing emptiness, and your wisdom doesn’t keep you from recognizing suffering and trying to liberate beings, and out of this intersection comes skillful action. Bodhisattvas at this level completely understand emptiness is a way that lets them see reality in a new way. They’re compared to people who’ve woken up from dreams. They’re not confused about causes and conditions and dependent origination, and they don’t even have to think about what skillful action is. They just automatically do the right thing out of wisdom and compassion. It sounds pretty great to reach this rung of the ladder. There are only a couple more levels until we reach buddhahood! That is, unless you’re a follower of Dogen or other teachers who say that practice and awakening are not separate and that practice is not linear. You can’t progress toward Buddha or awakening because Buddha and awakening are already here. In Keisei Sanshoku, or The Sound of the Streams, the Shape of the Mountains, Dogen tells a story about Lingyun Zhiqin (J: Reiun Shigon), who had been practicing for thirty years. He was traveling in the mountains and saw peach blossoms that were blooming in a distant village, and was suddenly awakened and wrote a poem: For thirty years I sought a swordsman. How many times leaves fell and new ones sprouted. Once seeing the peach blossoms, Nothing more to doubt. Even though he’s been practicing for three decades and chasing after awakening, seeing leaves fall every autumn and new ones coming out every spring, he wasn’t there yet. Now he’s seen these peach blossoms and somehow suddenly he gets it. The causes and conditions were both there in that moment for awakening to happen. He showed the poem to his teacher, who said that those who enter through conditions or circimstances never regress. In other words, the teacher acknowledged that the student had experienced awakening through this tangible bit of nature, the blooming of the peach blossoms; he had entered through conditions. Yet Dōgen says, “Does anyone enter except through conditions? Does anyone ever regress?” In other words, there is no other experience or manifestation of awakening except through this tangible world and concrete practice with this human body. Awakening isn’t something "out there," and the things we encounter are no other than Buddha. Does anyone enter except through conditions? What other way is there? Thus, practice and awakening are not two. However, then he asks, does anyone ever regress? Is there really progression and regression? How can there be if in this moment, which is all there is, practice and awakening are both right here? There’s nowhere to get to and nowhere from which to fall away. Sawaki Roshi also said: Progress? Regression? Who knows what goes in the right or wrong direction? What’s good and what’s bad? A cure can be a poison and a poison can be a cure. Suffering is uncomfortable, and yet suffering lets us know that we’re being caught up in delusion and strengthens our aspiration to practice. Being devoted to Buddha’s teachings is great -- until we cling to one or another in a rigid, inflexible way that doesn’t account for impermanence. Becoming mature enough in the practice to take the precepts is fantastic -- until we use the precepts as a yardstick for measuring worth of others. Our teachers are reminding us that none of this is really linear, even when it looks that way. They’ve just taken that nice, convenient step by step plan away from us, but we have to be really careful that we understand what they’re saying without making a mistake. It would be easy to read this as saying that because awakening is already here, we don’t need to practice because there is no progression or regression and anything we want to do is OK. That would be a big misunderstanding. It’s the same question Dogen was working with in his early years: if awakening is already here, why do we need to practice? Yet again, Dōgen says, “Does anyone enter except through conditions?” How can awakening be realized except through practice with this body and mind? Sawaki Roshi ran into this misunderstanding even in his fellow clergy. He told a story once in a talk: When I went to give a talk in a country temple, a young priest asked if he could give an introductory talk before me. “Go ahead,” I said, and listened to his talk. “The principle of Mahayana Buddhism is, this body as it is is Buddha. Since this body as it is is Buddha, there is no need for religious practice, and no need to worry about regressing; whatever you do is OK.” I thought he was making a serious mistake. After that I gave my talk . . . We are all hopelessly deluded, so we have to do something if we want to be Buddhas. We can’t be Buddhas by doing nothing. So there is no meaning in saying ‘this body is Buddha.’” When I said this, contradicting the young priest, he was visibly disturbed. (1) Ouch, right? Imagine being shown up in front of your congregation by Sawaki Roshi. I’ve always wondered why the younger clergy said what he said. Was he trying not to scare the congregation? Was he worried about what Sawaki Roshi might say? By the way, Sawaki Roshi was there to talk about the Fukanzazengi, so everyone should have known he was going to advocate zazen. Here’s the famous Sawaki Roshi to talk about zazen, but don’t worry -- you don’t actually have to DO it! Hmmmmm . . . The young guy wasn’t wrong; this body IS Buddha, but you only realize awakening with it when you sincerely practice. Just reading books or listening to lectures isn’t enough. To return to the gate statement, to be replete is to be complete and lacking nothing. To be beyond regressing and straying is to carry the same dharma as our ancestors, in other words, to fulfill the prediction of Buddhahood. Depending on your branch of Buddhism, being beyond regression comes about either because you’ve developed a powerful practice and particular wisdom or because it’s not possible to regress given that practice and awakening are not two and both are arising in this moment. In any event, we’ve put ourselves into the same space with our ancestors or past Buddhas. We’re doing same zazen and carrying and experiencing the same dharma. The Buddha’s practice is still going on because we’re here doing it. When I’m practicing in Japan I like to imagine all the people who have practiced there in that temple over the last 600 or 800 years. Some of those relics are still there to be seen today, and I’m still wearing the same robes and doing the same practice as they were. Time sort of collapses, and it could really be hundreds of years ago. Sanshin has only been here for 22 years, but still, think of all the people who’ve been in the zendo, in this same space in which we practice now. That’s the zazen space as well as the zendo space. When we say that the absolute sangha is all beings across space and time, we’re recognizing that our sincere aspiration to practice connects us, or makes us replete with the dharma of past buddhas. Notes: (1) Sawaki, Kodo. Discovering the True Self: Kodo Sawaki's Art of Zen Meditation. United States, Catapult, 2020, p. 172-173. Questions for reflection and discussion:
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About the text
The Ippyakuhachi Homyomon, or 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination, appears as the 11th fascicle of the 12 fascicle version of Dogen Zenji’s Shobogenzo. Dogen didn't compile the list himself; it's mostly a long quote from another text called the Sutra of Collected Past Deeds of the Buddha. Dogen wrote a final paragraph recommending that we investigate these gates thoroughly. Hoko talked about the gates one by one between 2016 and 2024. She provides material here that can be used by weekly dharma discussion groups as well as for individual study. The 108 Gates of Dharma Illumination
[1] Right belief [2] Pure mind [3] Delight [4] Love and cheerfulness The three forms of behavior [5] Right conduct of the actions of the body [6] Pure conduct of the actions of the mouth [7] Pure conduct of the actions of the mind The six kinds of mindfulness [8] Mindfulness of Buddha [9] Mindfulness of Dharma [10] Mindfulness of Sangha [11] Mindfulness of generosity [12] Mindfulness of precepts [13] Mindfulness of the heavens The four Brahmaviharas [14] Benevolence [15] Compassion [16] Joy [17] Abandonment The four dharma seals [18] Reflection on inconstancy [19] Reflection on suffering [20] Reflection on there being no self [21] Reflection on stillness [22] Repentance [23] Humility [24] Veracity [25] Truth [26] Dharma conduct [27] The Three Devotions [28] Recognition of kindness [29] Repayment of kindness [30] No self-deception [31] To work for living beings [32] To work for the Dharma [33] Awareness of time [34] Inhibition of self-conceit [35] The nonarising of ill-will [36] Being without hindrances [37] Belief and understanding [38] Reflection on impurity [39] Not to quarrel [40] Not being foolish [41] Enjoyment of the meaning of the Dharma [42] Love of Dharma illumination [43] Pursuit of abundant knowledge [44] Right means [45] Knowledge of names and forms [46] The view to expiate causes [47] The mind without enmity and intimacy [48] Hidden expedient means [49] Equality of all elements [50] The sense organs [51] Realization of nonappearance The elements of bodhi: The four abodes of mindfulness [52] The body as an abode of mindfulness [53] Feeling as an abode of mindfulness [54] Mind as an abode of mindfulness [55] The Dharma as an abode of mindfulness [56] The four right exertions [57] The four bases of mystical power The five faculties [58] The faculty of belief [59] The faculty of effort [60] The faculty of mindfulness [61] The faculty of balance [62] The faculty of wisdom The five powers [63] The power of belief [64] The power of effort [65] The power of mindfulness [66] The power of balance [67] The power of wisdom [68] Mindfulness, as a part of the state of truth [69] Examination of Dharma, as a part of the state of truth [70] Effort, as a part of the state of truth [71] Enjoyment, as a part of the state of truth [72] Entrustment as a part of the state of truth [73] The balanced state, as a part of the state of truth [74] Abandonment, as a part of the state of truth The Eightfold Path [75] Right view [76] Right discrimination [77] Right speech [78] Right action [79] Right livelihood [80] Right practice [81] Right mindfulness [82] Right balanced state [83] The bodhi-mind [84] Reliance [85] Right belief [86] Development The six paramitas [87] The dāna pāramitā [88] The precepts pāramitā [89] The forbearance pāramitā. [90] The diligence pāramitā [91] The dhyāna pāramitā [92] The wisdom pāramitā [93] Expedient means [94] The four elements of sociability [95] To teach and guide living beings [96] Acceptance of the right Dharma [97] Accretion of happiness [98] The practice of the balanced state of dhyāna [99] Stillness [100] The wisdom view [101] Entry into the state of unrestricted speech [102] Entry into all conduct [103] Accomplishment of the state of dhāraṇī [104] Attainment of the state of unrestricted speech [105] Endurance of obedient following [106] Attainment of realization of the Dharma of nonappearance [107] The state beyond regressing and straying [108] The wisdom that leads us from one state to another state and, somehow, one more: [109] The state in which water is sprinkled on the head Archives
December 2025
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